Sleep Symptoms and Polysomnographic Patterns of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Obese Children

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the sleep symptoms and polysomnographic patterns of obstructive sleep apnea in overweight and obese children.

Materials & Methods: Overweight or obese children aging 6-18 yr old referred during 2010 to Endocrinology Clinic of Ghods Hospital in Ghazvin, central Iran were enrolled in the study. Polysomnography was done for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea and the BEARS and Children's Sleep Habits questionnaires were used to survey sleep behaviors.

Results: We enrolled 30 children (14 males, 16 females). Twenty-one cases had body mass index (BMI) >95% and 9 had 85% <BMI<95%. Respiratory disturbance in polysomnography was seen in 90% of cases. Symptoms included snoring 18 (60%); frequent awakening 17 (56.6%); nocturnal sweating 15 (50%); daytime sleepiness 12 (40%); sleep talking 10 (33.3%); bedtime resistance 9 (30%); nightmares 8 (26.6%); waking up problems 6 (20%); sleep walking 6 (20%); difficult breathing 4 (13.3%); bedwetting 3 (10%) and sleep onset delay 2 (6.06%). Severe, moderate and mild apnea - hypopnea Index (AHI) were seen in 12, 9 and 6 subjects, respectively. A significant Pearson correlation was found between the BMI values and sleep latency.

Conclusion: Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea is high among overweight and obese children. Physicians should be familiar with its manifestations and consider polysomnography as an invaluable diagnostic test. There was no relation between the degree of obesity and severity of obstructive sleep apnea.